An extremist, not a fanatic

February 22, 2007

Not chippiness - contempt

Danny Finkelstein, tongue in cheek, perpetuates the illusion that our hostility to the Bullingdon Club is based on "chippiness."Politics and the media are, he claims, dominated by the ChipOx club who are still "struggling to get over the humiliation" of arguing with a drunken aristocrat at Balliol." This is wrong on so many counts.First, the media is if anything dominated by public school kids, not us state-educated ones.Second, I for one never had an argument with an aristocrat at Balliol - and if I had, I wouldn't have lost. The only students at Balliol I knew were a member of Militant and a charming Canadian. Thirdly, it's not chippiness we feel towards public school kids, but contempt. I, and I hope Clive, are quite happy with the way our lives have turned out. We don't envy Etonians. Quite the opposite. It's pitiful that such people have had so much money spent on their education and yet have (withafewexceptions) turned into no-marks. Some, I've heard, are so imbecilic that they couldn't even get into Oxford. Even the public schoolboys who have done quite well for themselves have done little better than us. When I worked in the City, I remember talking to an Harrovian colleague and asking: "aren't you embarrassed that, with all that money spent on your education, you've ended up working next to me?"I've often thought we should rename public schools as "special schools", designed to give an education to people who would otherwise be unequipped to thrive in normal society.

I've often wondered if part of Brown's contempt for Blair isn't only because Blair is dim, but also because Brown got the better schooling on the north bank of the Firth. But those days are long gone: fewer and fewer of the state-educated get a decent schooling, and more of the private schools do a serious job than in my youth, or Broon's or, I presume, yours. After all, their pupils now are so often the children of those who themselves went to grammar school.

Chris D - this attitude exactly matches my own experience at Oxford (87-90). I also went on a short course at Eton once, and quickly came to the conclusion that (a) Fuck me, those teachers were good, and (b) Of course they bloody were - they were on exactly twice what the teachers in my comp were getting.

Well that post positively defined chippiness and you've got it bad: "it's not chippiness we feel towards public school kids, but contempt." A tad irrational of you, don't you think, seeing as how they had no say in the decision to send them to public-school. And if it confers no advantages - "Even the public schoolboys who have done quite well for themselves have done little better than us" - why get so het up about them?

Disputing a charge of chippiness cannot help but sound chippy, just as arguing with a Freudian proves you have unresolved issues about your mother and arguing with an academic proves you couldn't cut it in university.

There are certain smugnesses in the world that are impenetrable, and this is one of them. (guess I've got a chip on my shoulder).

To the extent that private education promotes inequality, Blissex gets it right, I think. But no matter what their schooling, people who really do leave a mark on the world are very rare. The vast majority of us are just going through the motions.

In any case, what opportunities do you feel you've missed out on, Chris? You've had the Oxford experience, right?

I think you could lighten up a bit about this one James. Surely you can see the humour in the situation...

"talking to an Harrovian colleague and asking: "aren't you embarrassed that, with all that money spent on your education, you've ended up working next to me?"

Personally, I'm in no position to hold anyone up for squandering their educational opportunities. I spent my allotted years at the Comprehensive sitting at the back of the class making the teachers' job impossible.

But - when I worked in the media - it was very plain that a lot of people enjoyed huge advantages in the more attractive jobs because of who they are.

And that's life I suppose. But - in my experience - the same people also behaved as though they got where they did by hard work alone. In those situations, they need the kind of response that they clearly get if they're unlucky enough to get a seat next to Chris.

I am not a public schoolboy, but if anyone I knew said "aren't you embarrassed that, with all that money spent on your education, you've ended up working next to me?" to any work colleague, I would immediately lose all respect for them. A single phrase that is both arrogant, snide and presumptive. It also suggests that workplace achievement is the only benchmark in life. V sad, in my opinion.

and whilst we're at it, if someone had someone sit next to them and say "aren't you embarrassed that, with all that money spent on your education, you've ended up working next to me?" and they lost all respect for that person, then I'd lose all respect for them!

I may as well respond to Katherine, even though its a couple of months down the line, and no-one will likely read this.

I was referring to the image of the public school as being about smartly dressed young men, formal dinners, smug speeches and social climbing. I went to a public school for a couple of years while my parents were expatriated, and found it to be more about drugs, self-hatred, and feelings of being despised by anyone outside the school. Was it an actual privilege to go there? Well, I sure didn't think so. The best thing I can say about it is that I avoided a couple of years of socialist whittering from the other schools I went to. As for learning stuff, I've always learnt more by picking up books and reading than any kind of official schoolwork.